Starry Nights

Chapter 10: Alex

October 27, 2010

When he opened his eyes, the light blinded him for a moment. When his vision came into focus, he could see that he was in a hospital. He looked around and saw that he was lying next to a man who was missing both of his legs and a man who was missing an arm. In a sudden moment of fear, Alex looked down to confirm that he still had all of his limbs. After this, he tried to stand up when he heard a voice from the other side of the room that said, "Don't try to stand, you'll end up hurting yourself."

Alex laid back down and looked up a little to see a nurse who looked to be in her lower 30's. "You were shot in the stomach, and then an explosion caused you to be thrown about 8 feet back farther from where you had fallen. It's honestly a miracle that you're alive and missing no body parts."

"How long have I been un---"

"Around 2 weeks I think", she said before he could finish. "You're in Forward Operating Base Jackson, just thought I'd let you know."

"Thank you. There was a letter I left on my cot before I left, do you have any idea if it got delivered?"

"That's one thing they told me to tell you when you woke up. Yes, it was delivered."

"Thank you so much." That was the last thing Alex remembered before he woke up again.

December 13, 2010

He had flown back home to California, and he had attended the funeral of Ricky, whose name he found out to actually be Reginald Thompson. On the day of Ricky's funeral, it rained gently which hid the tears on Alex's face during the funeral. He introduced himself to Ricky's parents and thanked them for raising Ricky to be such a brave and honorable person.

After the funeral he went back to his hotel room and pulled out a picture of Natalie that she'd sent to him soon after he'd left for Afghanistan. He would stare at her for hours sometimes, and dream of the day that he would see her again. He would imagine the taste of her lips, and he would wish that they were against his. He began to feel a small butterfly-like feeling in his stomach when he remembered that in less than a week he would see her again. After he flew out of California he was on his way to stay with Denny in Manhattan again.

He walked out onto the balcony and looked at the stars in the night sky thinking of Natalie. He had a feeling that right now she was looking at them too. He had not yet told her that he would see her this week. In fact, he hadn't even told her that he was back in America. He wanted to surprise her for her birthday which was later this week. Everything in him wanted to tell her, but he knew it would be so much better to surprise her instead. 

He went back inside and laid down with the thought of Natalie on his mind. As he slipped under the covers of the bed, he wished that she was there with him. At times, he could almost feel her laying next to him. He wondered what she was doing right now. Maybe she was laying in bed thinking of him like he was thinking of her. For a second, he thought about the fact that she might be in the shower, and the thought of this made his stomach do a little flip. He felt his eyes begin to close as his thoughts continued to linger on Natalie, and the last thing he remembered was the thought of her laying next to him, sleeping in his arms.

December 18, 2010

When he got to the airport, Denny was there waiting for him. They hugged quickly and then hailed a cab after Alex had gotten his luggage. When they got back to the house, Denny had cleared out the large walk-in closet just as he had last time. Alex dropped his stuff on the floor and then he and Denny caught up for a while. 

He found out that Denny had started going to college online again (which his parents were obviously paying for). Denny planned on getting a nursing degree which was strange to Alex because Denny never seemed to interested in the medical field. But when he thought about it, the only thing Denny ever seemed interested in was video games, food, and occasionally his girlfriend.